10 TV Shows That Accurately Portray Drug Addiction

Stories about drug addiction have been prominent throughout cinema history. Sometimes, such stories are told well, and at other times, things can get a little preachy or heavy-handed. In the world of television, those latter qualities could be found even more in shows of old, arguably, thanks to sometimes notorious “very special episodes” of network shows, which themselves were sometimes linked with the whole “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign of the 1980s.

Yet TV shows have gotten more ambitious in many ways since the 1990s, and nowadays, there are plenty of television shows that can be appreciated for the honest and oftentimes accurate ways they portray issues surrounding addiction and recovery. The following TV shows do so in a particularly accurate way, and as such, this ranking will just say no to more fanciful/metaphorical looks at addiction (see Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s sixth season, for example, where magic becomes a drug).

10 ‘Breaking Bad’ (2008-2013)

Creator: Vince Gilligan

Breaking Bad is principally about a man who decides to manufacture drugs for money, rather than take them himself. That man is Walter White, and he’s the flawed protagonist turned eventual drug kingpin at the center of the show, with his addiction ultimately being to money and power. His accomplice Jesse Pinkman, however, is shown grappling with drug addiction, particularly in season 2, when he and his girlfriend become addicted to heroin.

Such addiction and Walt’s cruelty lead to tragedy, with Jesse attending rehab come season 3. Other areas of his life become difficult, but he eventually breaks free of Walt and the whole drug scene by the conclusion of his story. Elsewhere, Breaking Bad does shed light on some minor characters who are hooked on the meth Walt creates, with this being just one of the ways he progressively makes life worse for just about everyone he comes into contact with.

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9 ‘Oz’ (1997-2003)

Creator: Tom Fontana

There’s a caveat that comes with calling Oz a show that realistically deals with drug addiction, because some parts do and some parts definitely don’t. The show was probably at its best during the earlier and slightly more down-to-earth seasons, with the last couple of years of the show becoming more and more like a violent soap opera set in a prison (that approach can be entertaining in its own way, of course).

All sorts of terrible things go on inside the prison which serves as the central location in Oz, with drugs being an everyday part of life for prisoners there, alongside the constant violence and hateful individuals. The subplot about the ridiculous aging pills, naturally, doesn’t stand as a realistic look at drug use and its consequences, but the way addiction is explored on a massive scale, particularly in the earlier seasons? That stuff does feel more truthful.

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8 ‘Euphoria’ (2019-)

Creator: Sam Levinson

Euphoria is a show that’s caused its fair share of controversy, but its approach to depicting drug use and addiction among teenagers has started conversations and proven, at times, accurate. Euphoria does more than just tackle addiction, of course, with it also exploring a whole host of difficult topics including – but not limited to – mental health, child abuse, sexual relationships, and teenage crime.

Most of the content regarding drug addiction concerns the character of Rue, played by Zendaya, who’s the closest thing the show has to a central character among its expansive ensemble cast. The special episode “Trouble Don’t Last Always” – which was released between seasons 1 and 2 – is particularly noteworthy for how it looks at Rue and her history with drugs, including the sometimes challenging – and always ongoing – personal journey that is staying sober.

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7 ‘BoJack Horseman’ (2014-2020)

Creator: Raphael Bob-Waksberg

Though it’s animated and many of its characters are human/animal hybrids, BoJack Horseman was a show that was unafraid to get incredibly realistic and brutally honest about the heavy themes it tackled. Its look at a washed-up actor struggling with life could be hilarious at times, filled with sight gags and non-stop puns, but the more serious episodes of the animated sitcom proved truly harrowing.

The show’s titular character was probably most addicted to the fame he used to have, on top of being a heavy drinker, but he engaged in drug use as a way to cope with his pain relatively often, and a key side character, Sarah Lynn, was shown struggling with addiction. A bender between the two ultimately gives way to one of BoJack Horseman’s most tragic episodes, with the show getting distressingly real in its exploration of drug use and addiction within its fictionalized – but sometimes quite accurate – depiction of Hollywood.

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6 ‘Shameless’ (2011-2021)

Creators: Paul Abbott, John Wells

Shameless is one of many shows that revolves around a dysfunctional family, but pushes boundaries a good deal more than most comparable dramas/comedies. It aired for 11 seasons, and though they differed in quality, they were all committed to showcasing various very flawed characters and investigating various heavy topics, including the use and abuse of various substances.

The patriarch of the Gallagher family, Frank, has a particularly chaotic lifestyle often defined by his alcohol and drug use, as he pursues such things while often neglecting others, or, at the very least, not being responsible the way a parent is expected to be (to put it very mildly). Like other dramedies of the past decade or so, Shameless is able to find humor in dark situations while also approaching things seriously when needed, its depiction of drug use/addiction included.

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5 ‘Succession’ (2018-2023)

Creator: Jesse Armstrong

There are plenty of moments throughout Succession where a certain amount of humor can be found in how miserable and out-of-touch the main characters can be. It’s perhaps even a comedy first and a drama second… though certain character moments and storylines have their tragic moments, and Succession does take certain topics – like the lasting effects of abuse and drug addiction – seriously.

Drug addiction specifically is mostly explored through Kendall (Jeremy Strong), the intense, passionate, but hopelessly naive eldest son of his father’s second marriage. He’s sober when Succession begins, but relapses during season 1 after a particularly crushing failure, and then uses substances on and off throughout the rest of the show, with such behavior furthering his sense of being out of control. It’s hard to watch and feels extremely real, and even if some of his antics and most cringe-worthy moments can be funny, there is an underlying sadness to what his life’s become.

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4 ‘Dopesick’ (2021)

Creator: Danny Strong

Dramatizing events that were unfortunately and tragically true, Dopesick was a miniseries that looked at the ongoing opioid epidemic, tracking how it began and what consequences it’s had. The issue began back in the 1990s, with the rise of prescriptions for OxyContin, a substance that’s highly addictive and regrettably easy to overdose on, with these two factors working in tandem as contributors to tens of thousands of deaths per year, in the U.S. alone.

Dopesick covers a good deal of ground, even with just eight episodes, and also jumps around in time to best explore the start of the epidemic, how and why it picked up in speed, and how devastating it eventually became. Naturally, it explores the lives of people who became addicted to the still-prescribed and continually risky OxyContin.

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3 ‘The Sopranos’ (1999-2007)

Creator: David Chase

A series with an immensely talented cast and consistently brilliant writing, The Sopranos manages to cover so much ground thematically over its six seasons. It’s also more tonally varied than you might expect, transcending being a mere crime/gangster show and also working as a family drama, a dark comedy, a scathing satire on American life at the turn of the 21st century, and sometimes even a show that boldly approaches the horror genre.

Drug addiction isn’t something explored during every episode, by any means, but a significant character, Christopher Moltisanti, deals with using drugs on and off throughout the show. He’s not a good person by any means, but neither are the people who he spends time with, and the way The Sopranos shows how people can enable bad behavior – and play parts in ruining a period of sobriety – feels brutally real and sadly true to life.

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2 ‘Nurse Jackie’ (2009-2015)

Creators: Liz Brixius, Evan Dunsky, Linda Wallem

Edie Falco played a supporting role in some seasons of the aforementioned Oz, and then was a major character, Carmela Soprano, throughout all six seasons of The Sopranos. A couple of years after the latter show ended, she landed the lead role in Nurse Jackie, which is a show that revolves around a nurse who works at a hospital in New York City, and how she battles personal demons and an ongoing drug addiction.

The central character has a dependency on prescription painkillers, consistently living a tense life that involves keeping her drug use hidden, given the problems that would arise if it was found someone working in healthcare did such things. Nurse Jackie has this aspect of its lead character front and center throughout, making it one of the more consistent and noteworthy TV shows out there that deals with addiction.

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1 ‘The Wire’ (2002-2008)

Creator: David Simon

Few TV shows have ever come close to exploring drugs and their effect on a community at large quite like The Wire has. From a strong opening season to a near-perfect finale, The Wire was often about the drug trade in Baltimore, exploring the criminals running such operations, the police conducting investigations into such individuals, and sometimes the people who used the drugs at the center of it all, and how they were impacted.

The Wire does more than just explore drug use, with each season branching out from the initial season, which is mostly about two sides – the law and the street gangs – but very few TV shows feel quite as honest about the topic of drugs. Bubbles is the central character who’s shown grappling with addiction the most often, and it’s through him that viewers can really understand the toll a bustling and widespread drug trade can have on a personal level (as well as the show at large exploring it on a city-wide level).

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